Asheville land trust permanently protects 29 farmland acres: ‘Feels like a time warp’
Rural Buncombe farm placed in easement, thwarting future development Citizen Times
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Preservation Efforts in Buncombe County
ASHEVILLE – As the conversation about short-term rental regulation continues to proliferate in Buncombe County and new developments pop up, one community in the northwestern corner of the county is taking steps in the other direction, toward preservation.
Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, an Asheville-based land trust, closed Feb. 9 on a conservation easement in Sandy Mush to permanently protect almost 29 acres of farmland at Full Sun Farms. This deed restricts development on the land in perpetuity, only allowing changes to the property proscribed in the legal documents.
Alex Brown, 51, and Vanessa Campbell, 57, run and own the property. They grow flowers, and vegetables that the sell at local tailgate markets. According to the farm’s website, they live on the property in an old farmhouse with their two daughters. The couple was unable to provide comment to The Citizen Times by press time.
SAHC farmland program director Jess Laggis told the Citizen Times March 6 that the easement on this portion of the farm cost $310,000. Most of the money came from a $121,326 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and a $128,011 donation from Brown and Campbell. Private donors chipped in $60,663 through SAHC. Buncombe County and The Biltmore Company donated $46,000 collectively to fund the transaction cost. The county allocated the money in April 2022.
Conservation Benefits and Connected Protections
Laggis said the property has several elements that make it prime for conservation. The land has rich soils for agriculture. Brown and Campbell use ecologically sound growing and pest management practices, she said.
“In many places, prime soils are being built on and lost for agricultural use. In other areas, like out west, soils are becoming degraded,” Campbell said in a Feb. 29 SAHC news release.
The land is also adjacent to four lands in easements, creating 153.7 acres of connected protections. In total the farm adjoins 220 acres of protected farmland in the valley.
More:Conserving Buncombe County farmland: Easements, eggplants, vineyards, old cows
There is a cumulative effect of protecting adjacent lands, Laggis explained. Ecosystems do not respect property lines. Streams flow through different properties. Developed lands separating these ecosystems are almost like “hole punches,” Laggis said.
Besides the ecological impacts, there is an aesthetic value to preserving the farm.
“You kind of drop into the valley over a mountain,” Laggis said. “The look and the feel of everything there feels like a time warp. You’re moving back in time.”
